


Whip Smart

by Arkada



Series: Showing Off [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: A surprising amount of sleep is had, Developing Relationship, Dom Tony, Friends With Benefits To Lovers, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, M/M, Mutual Pining, Roleplay of dub-con scenario, Slight objectification, Sub Loki, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:08:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22999729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arkada/pseuds/Arkada
Summary: After Tony saves Loki’s ass in the middle of an Avengers mission, Loki decides the favor deserves to be repaid, and offers Tony the payment of his choosing.Tony has a fantasy involving a flashback to the invasion of New York - Stark Tower penthouse, Loki in shackles, and a little more privacy than how things went down in reality...
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark
Series: Showing Off [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1583200
Comments: 63
Kudos: 483





	Whip Smart

**Author's Note:**

> Behold the field in which I grow my registered copyright. Look upon it and thou shalt see that it is barren.

“I’m serious, platypus, it’s becoming a real problem!”

“I know, I’ve been listening to you complain about the problem for ten minutes.”

“He makes me _laugh_ , and I get all warm inside when he _smiles_ , and - do you remember the last time we went out to a club, and five separate people flirted with me? I didn’t even notice because I was too busy staring at Loki’s ass in skinny jeans!”

“Yes, Tones, I do remember. I was there, and by the way, I’m the one who told you they were flirting!”

“I’m so screwed. What am I gonna-”

“ _Go left!_ ”

Tony banks hard and narrowly avoids getting clipped by a chunk of falling masonry. “Good call, how we doing?”

“Only nine people left in this one,” Rhodey says, the War Machine armor flying out through a window of a half-collapsed building, carrying an unconscious man bridal-style. “Your love life is still a shambles, though.”

“Hold up,” Tony says, and lands to start shoving debris out of the street, clearing the way for another ambulance to come in. “I am not _in love_ with Loki, okay? Let’s get that clear. I have a small and completely understandable crush.”

Rhodey hands his passenger to the fire department and shoots back into the building to grab the next one. “Yeah, yeah. Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”

“Okay, I’ve changed my mind, can we just focus on the earthquake, please? Thank you.”

They’re in San Francisco and the ground is ripping itself apart, so it must be Tuesday. Unfortunately, the same earthquake is also threatening a tsunami on the other side of the Pacific, so the California team is actually only half a team, while the other Avengers are en route to Japan to help with evacuations there. They’re coping okay with being short-staffed, and of course they still have a full roster of highly experienced first responders, but there’s an awful lot of work to do and the geologists have already warned them that the aftershocks of this quake are going to _suck_. 

Which means Rhodey does _not_ have time to be criticizing Tony’s Loki-related emotional state, actually.

“Fire department’s taking over this one from here,” Rhodey reports on the team channel. “I’m heading up to the Roxxon offices. Sam, Thor, what’s happening?”

“Paramedics are pretty overwhelmed, I’m on the ground helping out,” Wilson reports. “Give me a shout if you need me back in the air, but there’s a lot on my hands right here.”

“I’ve sealed the last of the sewerage lines,” Thor says, voice echoing from being underground. “We’ve beaten the flood, at least.”

“Well done, you. Now come up here and empty this building. I’ve slowed down the fall but I can’t hold it forever.”

That’s Loki, of course, whose rarely-used ice powers are actually creating structural supports and patches to hold up the damaged buildings, buying the rest of them time to get the people out.

“I’m closer, I’m on it,” Rhodey says, and turns to head for Loki’s building. Tony scans it from where he is; his HUD shows only four people who couldn’t get out on their own, nothing Rhodey should need help with. Tony launches up and takes over Rhodey’s job, heading a few blocks over for Roxxon.

Rhodey says, “Okay, I’m in, give me two minutes.”

“That’s a long time,” Loki says lightly. “Must I?”

Rhodey’s busy, so Tony cracks the joke for him. “How about a hundred and twenty seconds, can you do that?”

A soft snort of derisive laughter. “My mother did teach me how to count, Stark.”

“Are you sure?” Thor says. “I remember you skipping most of our lessons to go study with the healers instead, and then begging me to tutor you to make up for it.”

Tony almost slams headfirst into a wall at the image of a young Thor teaching a young Loki math.

Loki claps back, “And who was it who didn’t know a word of his own history, because he wouldn’t leave the wrestling ring?”

That’s more like it.

Tony lands at Roxxon and scans the building. The earthquake messed up some of the emergency exit doors so they won’t open properly; people are getting out, but they’re squeezing through at a snail’s pace. Tony shoots around to the first exit, shouts until everybody gets out of his way, and rips the door right off its hinges. It scares the hell out of the people inside, but they get moving satisfactorily and let the others out behind them.

Two doors to go, easy done.

Tony’s not up to the next door before Loki’s voice comes through the team channel again. “Damn - hurry up, Rhodes,” Loki orders, voice strained. “It’s coming down whether I like it or not.”

“One more minute, I can get everybody out with one more minute!”

“Gravity doesn’t care. _Work faster_.”

Tony jumps in. “Do you need help?”

“No. We’ve got this,” Rhodey says firmly. “You get your own building cleared.”

Tony does, pulling the second door open. This one almost takes out a man who was apparently trying to break the door down himself, and now hurls himself through the opening to faceplant into the ground. Tony pulls the guy back to his feet - the HUD reports no major injuries - and sends him on his way ahead of the crowd pouring out of the stairwell, before heading around to the last door.

Hopefully things are going equally well for Loki and Rhodey, and come to think of it he hasn’t heard from Thor for a minute…

Tony shoos away the handful of people trying to open the third door by themselves. This one’s stuck even with the suit’s force, but a few quick laser cuts take care of that. “I’m good here - Rhodey, what’s happening?”

“Just a second and… That’s everyone, Loki, get the hell out of there!”

“Too late,” Loki says, and Tony spins around. Several blocks away he can see the tower Loki’s inside of starting to sway. One of the walls cracks spectacularly as Tony watches, a jagged bolt climbing right up the face.

Tony has a very bad feeling about that _too late_ , given that Loki should only need a second’s warning to get himself out of any bad situation. With this building’s exits all open now, Tony’s in the air and heading for that tower as fast as he can. “Loki, I wanna hear the sound of you teleporting out of there!”

“I - can’t, right now,” Loki snarls over the sounds of concrete grinding together. “I’ll get out later, but you’ll have to go on without me.”

Tony’s whole body goes cold and he flies faster, scraping corners as he goes. The tower shakes, cracks again, and then it just kind of slides downwards, all of it heading for Loki, and Tony…

It _is_ a choice.

Tony weighs up the loss of Loki to the recovery efforts, and it’s more important to get him back than it is to steer clear. Rhodey and Thor can handle picking the people out of buildings without Tony’s help, especially with Wilson as backup, but Loki’s the only one of them who can stop the buildings from falling in the first place. It’s worth taking Tony off the field for a while to get Loki back in action. It’s not as if Tony ignores the risk of losing them both, and blindly dives in because he has to save Loki at all costs.

It’s a rational, calculated decision.

But he still flings himself into the collapsing building at full speed, snatches Loki right out from under the falling ceiling, and sends them both through the far wall.

Which is when they’re hit from above by something falling from a higher floor.

They slam face-first into the paved courtyard out the back of the building and skid to a very unpleasant stop. Tony’s head is spinning, but the HUD’s lights, all three copies of them, are clear that they’re not out of trouble yet - the entire building’s coming down behind them and of-fucking-course it’s coming this way. Tony holds Loki tighter and flicks some power to the repulsors, sending them in a nice parabolic arc away from the danger zone. Or maybe it’s a messy muffed punt, he doesn’t know, and he doesn’t care.

They hit the ground again, landing hard with nothing to cushion them, and this time Tony isn’t sure he’s going to get back up. Not until after, like, a fruit smoothie and a nap. And a spa day. He feels like the entire planet just punched the shit out of him, and with the speed of their impact, it’s a little bit true. But the plan… Tony turns his head, neck aching, to see Loki right next to him, safe and sound, close enough that Tony’s helmet is casting blue light across his face. The _plan_ worked to perfection.

Tony finally uncurls his arm from around Loki, and lets him flop over to lie on his back. Loki hisses in pain, presses a hand to his ribs and winces up at the sky, and then starts chuckling, the mildly crazy laugh of the near-death-experience survivor.

“Magnificent timing, Stark,” he praises, and holds out a hand for Tony to shake.

Tony takes it. He’s aiming for one of those Asgardian-style wrist clasps, but misses, and ends up with more of an uncoordinated high-five. Loki chuckles again, and that makes Tony start laughing, and then they’re just giggling like idiots in the middle of an empty road with the dust from that fucking building settling around them.

Slowly, the laughter subsides, and that lets Tony pay attention to Rhodey’s voice in his ear. “-swear to _god_ , Tony, if you don’t answer your goddamned comms-”

“Mama Bear,” Tony says, grinning, “did you miss me?”

“Where is my brother?” Thor rumbles on the same channel. Still lying in the road, Loki snorts.

“Your brother can speak for himself. I’m fine.”

“That’s great news, guys, but if you’re both so fine, there’s still a lot of work to do anytime you feel like it,” Wilson reminds them.

Through sheer force of will, Tony hauls himself to his feet. The HUD’s internal scan has cleared him of a concussion and broken bones, and he’s not sure Loki can even _get_ a concussion, so they’re both fit for duty whether they want to go back or not. And Wilson’s right that there’s still a day to save. “We’re on the job, Birdman. But I want a raise.”

Loki raises an eyebrow at him as he sits up. “I don’t get paid at all for this, you realize.”

“ _You_ get paid in room and board, Mr. Houseguest,” Tony says, holding out a hand to haul Loki to his feet. “Now let’s go earn our keep.”

~

By the time the fire chief dismisses the Avengers as having done everything they can, Tony’s running on fumes and has every intention of never standing up again. It’s been two straight days since they arrived, and they’ve worked literally non-stop, so he feels like he’s earned the break.

They’re all gathered in the middle of some park, waiting for Barton to bring the Quinjet in for them. Tony has what’s left of a coffee in his hand, gratefully donated by the nearest cafe, and a slice of pizza in the other hand, which came from somewhere he can’t quite remember right now.

Loki, a little ways away from Tony, is asleep under a tree, face actually lightly bruised from their daring escape; it’s a little worrying given the hits Tony’s seen Asgardians shrug off without a mark. But Thor has set up camp right next to Loki, supplied with three entire boxes of pizza to keep a close eye on his brother without moving from his spot, so Tony feels like Loki’s not in too much danger of dying in his sleep.

From nowhere, Rhodey drops to the ground to sit beside Tony. He’s removed the armor - Tony hopes he left it somewhere with valet service - and the bright glow of his prosthetics catches on the blades of grass. “So, you singlehandedly rescued your one true love, huh?”

Tony groans and flops dramatically back onto the ground, careful to lose neither his coffee nor his pizza. “Not this again, seriously-”

“I am being serious! Sure, the guy’s got some baggage in his past, made some bad choices, but who hasn’t? Name one person in this outfit with a clean history.”

“You,” Tony says instantly. It’s sure as fuck not Tony.

“Buddy, I personally served a Vice President who teamed up with the Mandarin. Not to mention Hydra got into the military, too - who knows how many dodgy missions I went on before that came out? Loki’s done less shit than most of us. Besides, he’s on our side _now_. That means something in my book. I don’t know how many more people we would have lost today without his help.”

Tony groans again, and Rhodey rolls his eyes at him. “Look, I’m just saying that if you _want_ to go there, you have my blessing, or whatever.”

Tony pouts, because it does feel good to have his friend’s support - especially given all the shit Rhodey’s put up with in the past that _hasn’t_ deserved his blessing - but he isn’t ready to roll over just yet. “What if I _don’t_ want to go there?”

Rhodey arches a skeptical, pointed eyebrow, and Tony shudders. Rhodey’s almost as good at that as Loki is.

“Okay, fine,” Tony says. “What if… if I don’t even _know_ what I want yet?”

Rhodey smirks. “What did Pepper say about it?”

Tony doesn’t even bother challenging the assumption that he’s already talked to Pepper, or that Pepper would be on Rhodey’s side; he just sighs defeat. “She told me to grow a spine and make a move.”

“Hmm. I wouldn’t have thought you’d need a spine for that. It’s not that hard, he’s clearly head over heels for you.”

“What?” That’s impossible, Tony would have _noticed_ if Loki were having the same little crisis of attraction that Tony is. Sure, Loki wouldn’t be putting up with Tony if he weren’t genuinely amused by him, and he wouldn’t be wasting his time on somebody he didn’t find attractive, but there’s no reason to think there’s anything else going on than a perfectly average friends-with-benefits situation. As average as a literal god and a cybernetically enhanced human can get, anyway. “No, I don’t think so.”

Rhodey shakes his head and grins. “Man, you’re a crap liar for somebody banging the God of Lies.” He claps his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “Come on, what’s the worst that can happen? You ask him on a date, he’s not that into you, and he stabs you and hides your body in another dimension.”

“Sounds wonderful, then I wouldn’t have to have this conversation anymore.” _Would_ Loki say yes if Tony asked him on a date? Where would Tony even take an alien prince on a date? _Do_ Asgardians date? Maybe they should just skip the whole dating process and get Thor and Pepper to arrange their marriage for them.

“Just tell me when I should give him the shovel talk.”

“You do that and we _both_ get stabbed.”

Rhodey shifts over a bit so he’s looking directly down at Tony. “You know you’re my brother. I just wanna see you happy.”

“And I appreciate the hell out of that, you know I do.” Tony sighs. “I’ll promise to think about it, okay?”

“Think hard. So far Loki seems like he’s actually pretty good for you. You get more sleep, cause you take a nap every time he wears you out, and you’re eating more, cause he brings you snacks when he thinks no-one’s looking-”

“Okay, I’m out,” Tony says, and levers himself up off the grass despite every muscle in his body protesting. He’s going to go talk to Wilson, because spending time with Captain America’s right hand man is better than putting up with this bullshit.

“-and he writes sappy Norse poetry about you in his journal.”

Tony stops dead. “Wait, what?”

Rhodey snorts with laughter. “C’mon, Tony, I’m messing with you - but you _thought_ it was true!”

Sappy poetry? Tony scoffs. As if he’s a poetry kind of guy anyway. Nobody’s ever written poetry for him _before_ , after all.

Fortunately for what’s left of Tony’s sanity, and Rhodey’s frankly childish jokes, Barton chooses that moment to bring the Quinjet in with a roar of landing thrusters. Perhaps on purpose, the noise jerks Loki awake abruptly, and he’s on his feet with a knife in his hand before he realizes there’s no threat. A second later, he tucks the knife away and brushes himself off with the dignity of a cat who just fell off a high surface.

Tony grins, and turns around to hide it from Loki. Which is unfortunate, because that just means that _Rhodey_ sees him grinning, and it’s way too late to hide from him. Tony shoves the last of his pizza into his mouth instead, and follows Wilson to the Quinjet. Conversation over, Tony’s sole objective now is to sleep through the entire flight back to the Compound, and to that end he belts himself into a seat as far away as possible from everyone else. Rhodey and Wilson head to the forward section to catch up with Barton, which just leaves Loki and Thor to settle down somewhere in the back with Tony.

Barton runs through a handful of formalities with the nearest air traffic control tower, and takes off smoothly. Tony’s already half-asleep by the time Barton levels out at cruising altitude and the loud hum of the engines softens into background noise.

It does mean Tony can hear Loki and Thor talking to each other, but he can’t see that being enough to keep him awake.

“So, rescued by a mortal,” Thor says cheerfully, if still quietly enough to avoid disturbing Tony too much. “Still think yourself above them?”

“Given that these are the same mortals who insist on building cities on ground prone to throwing them back off, yes, I do feel somewhat superior.”

“You’d be below that ground now if Tony hadn’t saved you.”

“Untrue,” Loki says. “My magic returned on its own with time, and I would have found my way out before then regardless. He merely spared me from the discomfort of being trapped until I did.”

There’s a stretch of silence, and Tony thinks this will be the moment he falls asleep for real. 

Then, “You’re staring at him again,” Thor says lowly.

“I am not,” Loki parries, too quickly to be anything but an admission of guilt, and just like that Tony’s wide awake and eavesdropping with his eyes shut. So much for sleeping through it, but he can’t help being intrigued by anything to do with him. Or Loki.

Another pause. “You’re fond of him,” Thor says.

“Fond? Certainly not. He’s a generous host and I thank him for it, but nothing more.”

“Brother,” Thor chides. “You’ve barely spent a day out of his company since we arrived, and I haven’t seen you smile so much since before we went to Jotunheim. _Long_ before. And I saw you kissing him last week, in the hall on the way to his room.”

Oops. Not that they’re keeping things a _secret_ , exactly, but they haven’t even discussed _what_ precisely it is they’re not keeping secret. Tony feels a stab of something like jealousy, with a layer of possessiveness; _he_ wants a chance to define this thing, without interference from pesky brothers.

Oh, great. Now he’ll _have_ to do something about it.

“My kissing Stark is none of your business.”

“No, as your brother and your king, I think it _is_ my business.” There’s a teasing tone in Thor’s voice that’s probably precisely calculated to rile Loki up. “And I approve. He’s your type, for certain.”

“Oh, really? And what makes you think that, Thor?”

“He’s handsome, clever, and dangerous,” Thor says. “Just like all your past lovers.”

A deep inhale from Loki, probably as he tries to stay calm and not throttle Thor. “ _Sigyn_ wasn’t dangerous.”

Thor sighs as if Loki’s being unbearably stupid. “Sigyn was a healer and herbalist who could have poisoned you and half the palace if she’d wanted to. You like people who can keep up with you. I think you’ll find Tony can keep up better than most. And he’s the closest thing Midgard has to a prince, so you’re not exactly stepping down. He’s a good match for you.”

“Well, I’m _so_ glad you think so,” Loki says derisively. “But you can keep your opinions to yourself. I wouldn’t need your help even if I was looking for a match.”

“Really? So you wouldn’t be interested to hear that I think Tony’s very fond of you, too?”

Loki goes suspiciously quiet. “Oh?”

_Handsome, clever, dangerous, and the feeling is mutual_ , Tony thinks, with mingled glee and terror. It’s painfully similar to the conversation Rhodey had with him before the Quinjet arrived, encouraging him to go for it or else.

“But you don’t want to hear my opinions on the matter,” Thor says cheerfully. “You’ll just have to ask him about it yourself.”

“Bastard,” Loki mutters, and there’s the sound of him unbuckling the seatbelts. “I’m not putting up with you any longer. I think Stark’s better company right now.”

“He’s asleep.”

“Yes, precisely.”

Loki crosses the cabin and slides into the seat next to Tony. There’s the quiet rustle of him buckling himself in again, and then a soft, pleasant warmth settles over Tony, smelling faintly of leather and a hint of sweat and above all, familiar - Loki’s cape? Under the blanket, all at once Tony feels the adrenaline of eavesdropping wear off and the need for sleep return like a tidal wave.

“And you say you aren’t fond of him,” Thor calls.

“Wake him and you’re dead,” Loki says evenly, and tucks the edges of his cape in around Tony. His cool fingertips caress the back of Tony’s hand, totally unnecessarily, as he goes.

_Mutual_ , Tony thinks again, and then the ability to think anything in particular finally slips out of his grasp.

~

Tony’s shaken out of a deep sleep by the jolt of the Quinjet landing. Everything’s fuzzy for a few stretched seconds before he wakes up properly, fully recharged, more or less. Certainly he’s clearheaded enough to notice Loki swiftly snatching his cape back before Rhodey, Wilson or Barton can emerge from the cockpit and see it covering Tony.

Thor coughs pointedly and not subtly at all, but Loki ignores him just as pointedly as Tony blinks his eyes open and stretches in his seat, pretending like he didn’t notice the loan of Loki’s cape as a blanket. Nothing to see here, no sir…

Thor heads out as soon as the back ramp is down - three boxes of pizza back in San Francisco probably wasn’t enough - while Loki lingers, taking a moment to get his cape to sit right. Rhodey and the others have all gone through and disappeared inside by the time Loki’s satisfied, and looks over to Tony.

Tony only now realizes he hasn’t made a move towards getting out of his seat, and fumbles at the belts. Loki steps forward and smoothly pops the buckles free for him, and then offers him an elegant hand to help him up.

Christ, is this what it looks like when an alien prince is courting you? Is that what this is? Tony’s head is spinning and when he takes Loki’s hand to pull himself upright, he thinks he might actually _need_ it. “Thanks.”

“It occurs to me that I owe you for my safe rescue,” Loki says lightly. He doesn’t let go of Tony’s hand.

Tony blinks. “I’m not going to charge you for saving your life. And I don’t think that building was going to kill you anyway.” And the second _after_ he says it, he remembers that paying off fake debts is half of how they flirt, and this is the _worst_ possible time to take Loki literally instead. “Wait, I meant-”

“Very well,” Loki says, and Tony could _kick_ himself, stupid sleepy idiot- “If you insist on lowering my obligation to you, I’ll make you another offer. I think it would have taken me about an hour to dig myself out of there. So I offer to put myself in your service for an hour in return.”

Tony’s disappointment vanishes entirely, swiftly replaced by glee and arousal. “And by ‘in my service’, you mean…”

“Anything you want,” Loki says. “You repay your debts handsomely, and I have no intention of offering less when it’s my turn.” Loki twists his hand, still holding Tony’s, to lace their fingers together, and smiles hungrily at him. “Name your pleasure.”

Which Tony will do. Yes, please, Tony will absolutely do that.

As soon as he works out what to ask for.

Because getting anything he wants for an hour gives him a massive range of options, and Loki’s starting point of suggesting Tony _name his pleasure_ in that seductive tone doesn’t really narrow things down all that much. But Tony has plenty of Loki-themed fantasies to choose from already, he just needs to pick one. Without being paralyzed by choice-blindness, because dear god does Tony have a _lot_ of fantasies saved up. _Pick one, pick one, pick one…_

“Okay,” Tony says. “Do you know what roleplay is?”

Loki arches an eyebrow. “Bold of you to assume I didn’t invent it.”

Tony blinks. First: who taught Loki about memes? And second: is that really a thing that happened? _Irrelevant. Moving on._ “Right. Right, sure, I can work with that. So, then, picture this. You’ve just been defeated attempting to invade New York and you’re lying in a crater in my penthouse waiting for us to catch up with you, only it’s not _us_ this time. It’s just me. And you _really_ don’t want to go back to Asgard, so your only hope is to persuade me to keep you around.”

“I see,” Loki purrs, a grin spreading across his lips. “The conquering hero and the captive… How does it go then?” Despite the question, he’s clearly already into it - leaning forward, voice low and curling at the edges, eyes bright and fixed on Tony’s mouth. “Is this a seduction where I trick you into sparing me? Convince you it would be a shame to waste a willing body? Or perhaps…” Loki’s grin sharpens. “I don’t need to be punished on Asgard, if a worse fate awaits me at your hands on Earth.” He rolls his lip between his teeth and rakes his fingernails down his throat in illustration.

Tony’s cock throbs a little bit at the sight. “I’m up for a bit of both if you are,” he says. _Please, please, please be up for a bit of both._ “I vent some frustrations on you, you put up with it as long as you’re getting what you want out of me… Let’s set some boundaries and see where the mood takes us?”

Loki nods. “Outside your suit you’re probably not capable of injuring me. I’ll stop you if you’re getting close to it, otherwise handle me as you will. If you hold back I doubt you’ll be able to do anything to me at all.”

“Can I cuff you? You have no idea how hot you looked in those cuffs Thor put on you.”

“Yes, I do. You didn’t hide it well.”

“When it gets me results like this, why bother?” Tony winks. “So, cuffs?”

Loki magics a set into his hands - familiar-looking manacles with a generous length of chain between them - and passes them to Tony. They’re lighter than they look, possibly not even real, just a projection of magic rather than anything solid.

“Lovely,” Tony says. “Anything else? Likes, dislikes?”

“I haven’t found much of sex I dislike,” Loki shrugs. “And I haven’t found anything I dislike about you.”

“Aww.” Tony lays a dramatic hand over his heart. “Flattery will get you everywhere.”

“Well,” Loki says. “This is _your_ reward for your impressive performance in the field today. So do whatever you like, and I’ll follow your lead. Unless I don’t want to, and then you’re on your own.”

“Excellent.” It’s a rather truncated negotiation, but given that he and Loki are already pretty familiar with each other, Tony’s confident it’s good enough for them. “Then would you be so kind as to set the scene for us?”

“Stark Tower, at the hour of my defeat,” Loki recites with a smile. “Close your eyes.”

Tony does, and feels the strange swirl of Loki’s teleportation magic at work. Tony opens his eyes again to see his apartment in the Compound for only a moment before Loki pours a glamour over it. Then they’re standing in a credible replica of the penthouse during the battle of New York - broken windows overlooking Manhattan, smoke curling up in the distance, the crater in the floor and scorch marks on the walls. If Loki’s drawn it from memory, he’s done a pretty good job, especially considering it’s been several years since it happened. It’s not perfect, but Tony’s probably the only person in the world who could tell, and he’s not about to say a word.

Loki’s cast a glamour over himself as well, now wearing the damaged armor from the invasion and sporting the cuts and bruises of losing a fight to the Hulk. And when Tony finally looks down at himself, he’s wearing a banged-up Mark VII suit to match, and carrying the manacles Loki created earlier in one hand.

Loki situates himself on the floor, looking up as Tony moves to stand over him, Iron Man vainglorious.

“Ready?”

“Let’s do it.”

Loki slumps back against the steps, tilts his head, looks Tony in the eye, and says, “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll have that drink now.”

Just like in 2012, Loki’s audacity makes Tony grin, but this time he doesn’t bother to hide it. “God, you’re a cocky little shit,” he says. “Come on, hands. Now.”

Dejectedly obedient, Loki holds up his hands in surrender and lets Tony cuff him. Tony’s under no illusions that the cuffs can restrain Loki in any way at all, but he just looks so good in them.

Tony runs with it. “You look good like this,” he purrs, and gives the chain a jerk. “Like I can do whatever I want with you, and you’re just going to have to let me.”

Loki’s tongue flickers over his lips, the wary prisoner looking for an out. “And what are you going to do with me?”

“Y’know, I haven’t decided. Thor’s got a pretty big claim on taking you back to Asgard, of course, and SHIELD’s probably got an equally big claim on sticking you in some lab in the middle of nowhere, but neither of those options gets me what _I_ want. And I’ve had a really long day, Rudolph, and I deserve something nice after all the trouble you’ve caused me, wouldn’t you agree?”

Loki nods slowly. “I would, actually. You should keep me close at hand. And well beyond Thor’s reach.”

Tony grins. “Not ready to face big brother’s idea of justice?”

“I have no place in Asgard,” Loki snarls, then forces his expression to soften and his tone to turn seductive. “But I’m sure a man like yourself can think of many uses for a powerful sorcerer in his debt.”

“Well, right now, all of them involve you bent over and getting fucked within an inch of your life,” Tony says bluntly. He doesn’t miss the totally uncalled-for flash of eager arousal in Loki’s eyes. “Just because _I_ deserve nice things doesn’t mean that _you_ do, and I’ve got a planet to avenge. So if you’re staying put and you’re in _my_ custody, I’m going to make it worth my while.”

“As you wish,” Loki says, and starts levering himself upright. And of course, the instant his mouth is at crotch height Tony gets an even better idea for what to do first.

He reaches out and grabs Loki by the hair to hold him on his knees. “Yeah, you stay right there while I slip into something a little more comfortable.”

Magical projection or not, the armor unfolds just like it’s supposed to when Tony twists the manual control to remove it. And from there it’s easy to unzip his jeans, push his underwear out of the way and pull out his cock.

“All right.” Tony gives Loki’s hair a commanding little tug. “Choke on it.”

“So predictable,” Loki murmurs, and Tony has no idea whether it’s in character or not, but either way he knows what he wants to do about it.

And Loki did tell him not to hold back.

Tony swings his open hand across Loki’s cheek.

The sting of the hit lights up his entire palm. He can feel Loki humoring him by turning his head so Tony doesn’t break his wrist, but it does nothing to lessen the high of slapping the god of mischief in the face.

“How about that, huh?” Tony says. “Was that too predictable for you?”

Loki slowly turns his head back, and raises a hand to trace the mark on his cheek. Tony watches him press down on it as if savoring the hint of pain, his eyes closing. “No,” Loki murmurs after a while. “No, that was much better.” He digs his fingers in for another second before letting his hand fall with a rattle of the chains. “I underestimated you, Stark.”

“Yeah, I hear that a lot.”

Loki glances up at Tony, before lowering his head submissively. It’s a pretty sight, but Tony is under no illusions that either the real Loki, or the defeated persona Loki is playing, is anything close to submissive. Even within the boundaries they negotiated before, there’s plenty of room for Loki to pull a fast one to get the upper hand back.

And Tony’s _really_ into it. It’s much more satisfying this way. A bump-and-grind, insert Tab A into Slot B, he can have with just about any consenting adult he likes. The challenge and the intelligence and the sheer _fun_ that he has with Loki? He hasn’t found that in many other places, for sure.

He gives Loki’s hair another tug to pull him back to the matter at hand.

And Loki, god of kinky fuckery, leans in and swallows Tony’s cock whole.

Tony groans and forgets all about their banter in favor of pushing in as far as he can. Loki’s mouth gets his cock fully hard in seconds until Tony’s practically dizzy with it, every feeling in his body centered on Loki sucking his cock like his life depends on it - which, in the scene, it kind of does. Reminded, Tony grins before taking a tighter grip on Loki’s hair and holding him in place. Loki doesn’t even pretend to choke, just keeps sucking Tony’s cock like a champion. Tongue, teeth, taking the head down his throat, Loki pulls every trick in the book straight out as if warmups are for other people.

All of which has Tony perilously close to coming already, and he’s nowhere near ready for this to be over. Fortunately for him, he knows Loki’s repertoire includes a certain spell that means refractory periods are for other people, too, so there are precisely zero unwanted consequences for coming this early in the game.

So Tony just stands there and lets Loki make it good for him, thrusts his hips forward whenever he feels like it, and every so often tugs on Loki’s hair just because he can.

When Tony comes, it’s practically gradual, Loki’s mouth drawing the orgasm out of him nice and long, the pressure cresting over but far from finished. Tony sighs it out, enjoying the moment, simultaneously satisfied and ready for more. His cock twitches, softening slowly, and he pulls Loki off it before staring down at him.

Fully armored, chained, and lips red, Loki makes for a dramatic sight kneeling at Tony’s feet. Just that is enough for his cock to try to get hard again without assistance. Loki sees him looking, and lifts his chin, pride restored.

“There, Stark,” Loki purrs, and swallows Tony’s come blatantly. “You can’t execute a mouth like that.”

He’s right, but all the same, Tony takes his still-soft cock and slaps Loki across the lips with it. “I’ll do whatever I want with your mouth. And with the rest of you, so go find a window you didn’t break and bend over.”

Loki stands smoothly, quietly obedient, and turns away. Tony admires the sight of him in the tight, badass leather armor for a long second, committing it to memory.

It’s not going to last long.

“And lose the kit,” Tony adds, following Loki to the edge of the room. “Let me see what I’m buying.”

Loki fudges the logistics of undressing while handcuffed a bit, using a few magic powers he shouldn’t have access to with those chains on. But Tony’s willing to trade reality for a Loki naked, bound, and braced against the window with his legs spread. His chest is nearly parallel to the floor, and the chains hang in a graceful catenary between his cuffed wrists.

“Look at you,” Tony hums, and stoops down to run his hand along the defined muscles of Loki’s thigh. “I really hope you don’t change your mind about wanting back on Asgard, because I don’t think I’m letting you go. I’ve got a nice basement cell in mind for you where I can have some of this-” he slaps Loki’s ass, hard, and Loki condescends to jerk forwards like it hurt, “whenever I like.”

Tony stands up again, and breaks character to ask, “Lube?”

Loki jerks a hand over his shoulder. “Check your bar.”

Tony crosses the room and does so, finding a tube of gel in the first drawer he opens. “Clever. Is the scotch real, too?”

“It is, actually.”

“Ooh.” Tony finds a glass - also real - and pours a small measure. “You’ll forgive me for drinking this on your behalf,” he says, and sips without waiting for an answer.

He returns to Loki with scotch in one hand and lube in the other. Impressively, Loki’s not even straining to hold himself up, despite being bent over at almost a right angle. Tony takes advantage and uses Loki’s flat back as a table for his glass, balancing it between Loki’s shoulderblades, before uncapping the lube and squirting some out onto his fingers. “If you drop that, I’m not gonna be pleased.”

“And yet, you-” Loki cuts himself off with a hiss when Tony slides a slick finger inside him. Loki swallows and adjusts, shifting minutely, before continuing, “You leave it where it can easily fall.”

“Not my fault if you can’t take being fingered,” Tony says dismissively, and adds another finger anyway. Loki, of course, _can_ take that much without even trying, and barely tenses up at all before relaxing into it. The scotch in the glass ripples just the slightest amount.

Loki likes his prep done fast, enough to get him slick and then straight into the good bit. Tony-in-character, who goes around abusing his prisoner of war without breaking a sweat, definitely wouldn’t give Loki-in-character any more than that. So Tony spreads the lube around everywhere it needs to go, coats his own cock, and then wipes the excess off on Loki’s hip. That move earns him a displeased little hiss, and he slaps Loki’s ass again. “Suck it up, Buttercup.”

“If you wanted silence and compliance, you wouldn’t be taking your pleasure from _me_.”

“I just want to get something good out of this clusterfuck of a day, and here you are,” Tony says. He looks up and meets Loki’s eyes reflected in the window. “Are you going to be good for me?”

Loki grins. It’s actively terrifying, but it only makes him hotter. “Not in the least.”

Tony grins back. “Great.”

He picks up the glass of scotch again, and lazily grinds his still-soft cock against Loki’s ass. “You wanna give me a hand with this?”

Loki’s fingers lift up from the window to summon his magic with a gesture. Just like that, Tony’s cock is thickening up nicely like he’s still got the stamina he did in his twenties. He takes a celebratory sip of scotch, and grinds against Loki harder, now that there’s something for him to feel.

“I could say some very insulting things about your _performance issues_ right now, Stark.”

“Yeah, you could,” Tony says, and swallows the last of the scotch. “But given that I’ll ship you off to Asgard as soon as I’m tired of you, that little spell is really to _your_ advantage, not mine.”

He tosses the empty glass out of the way, somewhere over his shoulder; a second or two later, it shatters.

“Brute,” Loki mutters. “You’re worse than Thor.”

“It’s okay, I’ll let you crawl around and clean it up after we’re through here.”

Reminded of what they’re doing right now, Loki braces his palms more firmly against the window, and spreads his legs a little wider. It lowers his hips by just an inch, bringing him into perfect range for Tony. The chains rattle musically with Loki’s movement.

Tony keeps up his slow, languid grinding for a minute longer, hard cock now slipping between Loki’s ass cheeks and rubbing over his lubed rim. It’s a good feeling, firm muscle on both sides, the unique cool tinge that Loki’s skin always seems to carry… and he can’t wait to see if Loki’s desperate enough to beg Tony to fuck him already.

And sure enough, Loki’s head drops between his arms like he’s run out of patience to hold it up. “Are you just going to stand there?”

Tony backs off his pace just a little, just enough that Loki can tell. “I’m going to do what I feel like. Problem?”

A frustrated, sexy hiss. “No.”

“I could be persuaded to speed things up, I guess, if you wanted to ask me nicely…”

Loki takes a moment to make up his mind, then lifts his head and meets Tony’s eyes in the reflection of the window once more. “Please, Man of Iron,” he murmurs, low and sultry, and oh dear, Tony was _not_ ready for that, “you’ve won the war. You have your prize. There’s no need to hold back. I’ll submit to everything you ask of me, but please, ask for _something_.”

“Well, fuck me,” Tony says eloquently, and before Loki can respond, he lines up his cock and thrusts inside in one hard push.

He _loves_ fucking Loki. There are no words for how good a literal god’s ass feels around his cock. Loki takes him with ease, like - in the most appropriate of comparisons - a knife sliding home into a well-made sheath.

“Ahh, yeah,” Tony sighs. He settles his hands around Loki’s hips, getting a nice, firm grip. “That’s worth letting you blow up a few buildings.”

“So glad to hear it,” Loki snarks, far too composed for having a cock up his ass. It’s okay, though, because Tony still has plenty of time to ruin that composure for him.

He’d like to throw out a few more comments, really get the most out of the scenario, but he certainly doesn’t want to leave Loki any more openings and at the rate Tony’s brain is functioning, Loki’s going to win that particular race.

Pulling _almost_ all the way out and then shoving straight back in is almost as good, though, and after a few more long and deep thrusts, Tony stops thinking about anything else. Loki feels so good, tight and slick and just taking every single thrust, the chains on his wrists swaying in time with Tony’s rhythm. Tony digs his fingers in, curling them around Loki’s jutting hipbones, and starts giving it everything he has. Loki doesn’t falter from his position once, holding strong and steady, giving Tony a lovely view of the plain of his back and the spread of Manhattan below them.

And maybe Tony does have one last in-character line, after all.

“Here’s where you went wrong, Genghis,” Tony says, and jerks Loki’s head up by his hair to see the city at their feet. “All that out there? That’s mine, and you don’t step on my stuff without my permission.”

He punctuates it with a particularly hard thrust into Loki’s body, and Loki shudders. “Lucky for you,” Tony goes on, “I’ve decided you’re my stuff, too. And that means nobody gets to step on _you_ but me.”

Loki’s only answer is a whimper, and Tony doesn’t care if he’s exaggerating or not, it’s fucking _intoxicating_. He keeps his hand in Loki’s hair, since he’s really enjoying that, and steps up his pace to bring them to the big finish.

Of course, as soon as Tony does he realizes he’s practically there already - it won’t take long now, he is _more_ than wound up enough for this, and he just throws himself into getting the rest of the way there. He goes hard and fast, Loki can take it, and it feels so all-consumingly good. The pressure building starts to white out everything else, until all Tony’s thinking about is snapping his hips and driving his cock as deep as it can go with every thrust.

“Come on,” he says, teeth gritted, not sure which one of them he’s speaking to, “just a little more…”

Loki shoves back to meet him on the next stroke, and clenches tight. The thread inside Tony draws taut, and snaps.

Tony comes with a shout, nerves flooded with ecstasy. He chases it, hips grinding forward, cock deep as it can go. He can feel his cockhead sliding through his come, a bright flare of heat against the slight chill of Loki’s skin. After a few moments they start to blur into each other, the come cooling and Loki’s skin taking in its warmth.

_So good,_ Tony thinks as he drifts down. Every time they’re so good together…

The realization kind of happens on its own.

_Together, that’s kind of the point, isn’t it?_

It’s not that Tony needs to ask Loki out at all; it’s that they’ve already hit a winning formula, and he’s just now working that out. Rhodey was right that Loki’s been taking care of Tony, and _Thor_ was right that Tony makes Loki smile and they’ve been spending a lot of time together. So this isn’t about taking things to some mythical next level, it’s about what they have now being right for them already. And if that means being _together_ , then Tony’s going to give it everything he has.

Which is rather a dramatic realization to arrive at, cock going soft inside Loki’s fucked-open ass.

He’d say that the reminder of reality was like a splash of cold water, except that now the association with Loki’s bare skin makes cold water more of a turn-on than anything else. Nevertheless, Tony can’t stand here with lube dripping down his balls and into his underwear all day.

But maybe there’s a bit of Loki’s post-orgasm recharge magic still hanging around, because Tony feels like he could use just one more taste. The cherry on top of the sundae.

He untangles his fingers from Loki’s hair, and pats his hip. “How’s it going down there?” Without waiting for an answer, Tony slides his hand around to grab Loki’s cock - hard enough to pound nails and dripping at the tip. “Oh, it’s still going, is it?”

“You’re the conqueror here,” Loki says, voice rough. “You tell me.”

Tony hums in thought. “Well, I do kind of love the idea of sending you off to your cell to deal with that on your own… On the other hand, I’m sure it’d be a lot less fun if I went through with it.”

“Oh, I’m glad to hear that.” Loki stands smoothly, Tony’s cock slipping out of his ass as he does, and then-

Loki spins, grabs Tony by the wrist and shoulder, and swings him forward into the window. It’s a gentle landing for all it’s too fast for Tony to fight, and he’s barely stopped moving before Loki’s pressed flush to his back, pinning him in place against the glass.

Loki runs his lips up Tony’s neck in a move that’s pure possession. “You see, Stark, no matter how many chains you keep me in, I’m not about to let you walk away and leave me unsatisfied.”

“My kind of guy,” Tony says, grinning, and cants his hips back into Loki’s to show willing. “I was wondering when you’d turn the tables.”

Loki’s brisk about it, shoving Tony’s pants and underwear just low enough to bare his ass. The chains slide cold across Tony’s skin as he moves, and Tony shivers with want.

“I have got to chain you up more often.”

“Oh?” Loki ruts forward, cock slicked and pressing between Tony’s ass cheeks. His hands wrap around Tony’s wrists and pin them to the glass above his head, the chains rattling. “I was thinking being at my mercy suited you.”

The tip of Loki’s cock finds Tony’s rim and pushes; Tony shifts to adjust and let it in. “You’re not wrong - everything suits me.”

“So arrogant,” Loki murmurs, lips moving against Tony’s ear. It sounds like praise.

“ _You_ started this,” Tony says, and clenches down around the tip of Loki’s cock. There’s enough lube that the movement makes it slip half an inch deeper. “You knew what you were getting into.”

Pointedly, Loki rocks his hips, shoving his cock in a little bit further. Without more prep that’s as much as Tony can take, but Loki doesn’t seem to mind, just pumps shallowly back and forth, finding a pace that works for him. He doesn’t seem to be in the mood to take long about it, fixing on fast, short strokes, hips twitching.

It’s almost exactly the right amount of stimulation to stretch out Tony’s afterglow, he just needs a tiny bit more of something…

Knowing he’ll get nowhere, Tony presses back against Loki’s grip on his wrists, just to feel the burn of being held down.

The fact it also makes Loki come takes them both by surprise, Loki gasping and Tony arching up into the cool splash that floods his insides. Oh, yeah, that was it… the taste of restraint and then Loki’s come on top of it, _that_ was what he needed. Tony grins, face still pressed to the glass; it’s what Loki needed too, apparently.

Loki unwinds slowly, body relaxing against Tony’s and slumping until the window is holding both of them up. Tony lets him have it for as long as he can before he starts feeling a little too crushed and incredibly tired.

He knocks his arm against Loki’s. “Hey, let’s go for round two. And by round two I mean take a goddamn nap.”

Loki grunts in response, but teleports them straight into Tony’s bed anyway. He also magics away Tony’s clothes as they go, so that a second later they’re curled together under the blankets, with Loki - of course - the big spoon.

Loki runs a hand down Tony’s flank, taking in as much skin as he can, as if making up for the way Tony spent the entire scene fully dressed. “Satisfied with your payment?”

“I will gladly rescue you from all collapsing buildings in the future.”

“Good to know,” Loki says. His hand doesn’t stop its lovely long strokes of Tony’s side.

The silence that falls is easy and pleasant. Still, Tony wouldn’t say Loki ruins it when he goes on, “And what else would you like to do with me in the future?”

Tony swallows down the instinctual quip that rises to his lips. He can tell Loki’s not interested in what new sex positions he wants to try. This is the question that Rhodey and Pepper and Thor and god only knows who else have all been wanting them to ask.

The question he answered for himself only a few minutes ago.

“Honestly?” Tony says, before rolling over to face Loki. He doesn’t even have to sacrifice Loki’s touch to do it, because Loki settles his hand right back on Tony’s other side. Tony locks eyes with Loki until he can see the tiny images of himself reflected in Loki’s pupils, and then the words kind of come out on their own.

“I want to do this, and just not stop. You’re a good friend, a great fuck, and I’m happier when I’m with you. My life is more fun with you in it, and my motto’s always been to have as much fun as possible. I could wake up to you in my bed every morning, or in your bed, or you in my kitchen making me breakfast-”

Loki snorts a laugh and it makes Tony’s insides glow. He continues, “I feel like, if I got to keep you, I’d be pretty damn satisfied with that. Since you’re asking. At some point we’d have to tackle my aging problem, and-”

“Not today,” Loki says, and surges forward to smother Tony with a kiss. Loki kisses like he does everything else, with maximum effort and making Tony weak at the knees. Tony’s head spins as he kisses back.

Loki parts their lips softly, only enough for him to speak. “I want that. Believe me, there are few things in my life I’ve wanted more.” He kisses Tony again, a brief sweep of their mouths together. “But Thor will take us back to New Asgard soon, and as much as I would like to take you with me, I think it would be difficult, given how many people want to keep you here.”

“Oh.” Tony tries not to feel disappointed. “That’s okay, we can-”

“It’s _okay_ because if Thor knows what’s good for him, he’ll issue you a formal invitation that not even your petty little United Nations can ignore lightly.”

“Oh,” Tony says again, much brighter this time. “Oh, well, that’s half the problem gone right there. It won’t convince Pepper to let me out of my day job, but give me a few weeks and I’ll bring her around. I’ll have Rhodey in my corner, that’ll help, Pepper usually listens to him.”

“Then we have a deal,” Loki murmurs, and seals it with another kiss.

Tony kisses him back until the need for sleep really does overrule everything else. “Yeah, we do, but I was serious about that nap.”

Loki pulls away with a sigh, but smiles at him anyway. “If you insist. Sleep well, Tony.”

Oh, and that is just _not_ fair, calling him by his given name for the first time when he’s too tired to do anything about it… “I heard that, you bastard…”

Loki chuckles as Tony slips away. “I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks as ever to my first readers, [Haldane](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Haldane/) and [Apples](https://appleslostherpassword.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Part 4 is already underway!
> 
> Here is [my tumblr](http://ao3-arkada.tumblr.com/) for anything that needs tumbling.


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